Portugal 0 Spain 0 (aet, 2-4 on pens): Oh no Ronaldo! Cristiano stranded as Cesc seals it

By IAN LADYMAN

Job done: Spain's players go wild as Fabregas slots the winning penalty

Spain will defend their European crown in Kiev this Sunday after coming through a penalty shootout to settle a dreadful game at the Donbass Arena on Wednesday night.
After 120 minutes of turgid football had failed to produce a goal, Cesc Fabregas’ penalty struck the inside of the post and found the back of the net to seal the sudden death contest 4-2.
However Portugal’s decision to leave captain and leading goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo to last in their order of takers will surely come back to haunt coach Paulo Bento and the Real Madrid star himself.

With both teams missing their first-kicks - Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho seeing their efforts saved - the shootout stood at 3-2 to Spain when Portugal central defender Bruno Alves slammed his kick against the underside of the bar.

This meant that Ronaldo was left stranded - presumably as Portugal’s fifth taker - on the halfway line as Fabregas stepped up to seal Spain’s progress to a final date against Germany or Italy in three days’ time.
What is particularly baffling is that Ronaldo used to take penalties for Manchester United. For him and his success-starved country, this is an inquest that will go on for some time.
After the hype, the talk and the expectation, it was such a shame that the majority of this occasion lacked drama and excitement. It almost goes without saying that it lacked notable activity on the field.
Certainly, it was a tense night. These ones always are. It was also niggly and petty at times, though, as the creativity and natural exuberance of many of these players slowly succumbed to often basic attempts to prevent the opposition playing.


Leading the way: Portugal captain Ronaldo organises his side

Things certainly weren’t helped by the fact that the stadium wasn’t anywhere near full. There weren’t even enough people in the VIP areas for the rather tiresome ‘Respect’ collage to work properly. It’s hard for people to hold up coloured bits of paper when many of the seats are unoccupied.
What was particularly unfortunate on Wednesday night was that, as Donetsk is so far east and travel and hotel issues so hard to overcome, there were very few Spanish and Portuguese supporters in the ground. This is an issue that UEFA must address before the next tournament in France in 2016.

Putting the boot in: Nani challenges Xabi Alonso

Many of those who were here appeared to be from Russia and for reasons best known to themselves they occasionally booed and whistled when Spain had the ball.
Maybe it was because of a love of Ronaldo or maybe they had bought in to the pre-match talk of the Spanish playing boring football. Whatever the case, it was very strange.

Centre of attention: Ronaldo was excellent in the first half but fell away in the second

As for the majority of the game, Paulo Bento’s Portuguese team would have been the happier. There wasn’t a shot on target from either team until Xavi drove a 25-yard effort in to the midriff of Rui Patricio in the 68th minute and that did say much for the nature and the organisation of Portugal’s defending.

Rolling back the years: Portugal boss Paulo Bento juggles the ball on the sidelines

Perhaps Spain coach Del Bosque’s decision to choose one of his more unheralded forwards to lead his attack didn’t help the world champions’ cause.
After all the talk before the game about whether he would play with a No 9 - Fernando Torres - or a ‘false nine’ - Fabregas - the Spain coach surprised everybody by playing a No 11 who once almost signed for Hull City. Little has been said or heard about Seville striker Alvaro Negredo. Nevertheless it was Negredo - for whom Phil Brown bid £12m as manager of Hull in 2009 - who was given the job.


Midfield maestro: Iniesta gets away from Joao Pereira

In the first half of normal time both teams were at least trying to be ambitious. They just couldn’t find any fluency. Spain perhaps had the better chances as Alvaro Arbeloa and Andres Iniesta despatched decent opportunities over the bar from 18 yards or so. At the other end, meanwhile, Ronaldo drove one shot inches wide of Iker Casillas’ near post.
Second-half substitutions by Del Bosque indicated two things. Firstly that the Negredo experiment hadn’t worked as he was replaced by Fabregas in the 53rd minute and, secondly, that his faith in Torres has dwindled. When two more attacking players were sent on, they were Pedro and Jesus Navas.

Highly-charged: Pepe remonstrates with the linesman

As the game wore on, Portugal did have some chances. Ronaldo drove a couple of free-kicks over and striker Hugo Almeida also went close with two efforts from distance before Ronaldo wasted a dramatic chance to win it in the 90th minute.
A superb break from Portugal’s own half saw their captain released down the left but his shot flew over.

Glorious chance: Rui Patricio saves from Iniesta from point-blank range

Extra-time belonged to Spain in terms of territory. Perhaps the Portuguese had tired. When the chances came, though, they didn’t go in as Iniesta was denied point-blank by Patricio in the 103rd minute and Navas’ angled shot palmed clear eight minutes later.
As it turned out, the drama was yet to come. For the first time in history we were left talkin

Key moments: Ramos (above) celebrates his cheeky penalty before Bruno Alves (below) misses for Portugal



On the way to Kiev: Spain scraped through by the skin of their teeth





source: dailymail